A highly miniaturized vacuum package for a trapped ion atomic clock

Schwindt, Peter D.  D.; Jau, Yuan-Yu; Partner, Heather; Casias, Adrian; Wagner, Adrian R.; Moorman, Matthew; Manginell, Ronald P.; Kellogg, James R.; Prestage, John D.

doi:10.1063/1.4948739

A highly miniaturized vacuum package for a trapped ion atomic clock

Journal Article · Thu May 12 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4948739· OSTI ID:1259538

^[1]; Jau, Yuan-Yu ^[1]; Partner, Heather ^[1]; ^[1]; Wagner, Adrian R. ^[1]; Moorman, Matthew ^[1]; Manginell, Ronald P. ^[1]; Kellogg, James R. ^[2]; Prestage, John D. ^[2]

Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA (United States)

We report on the development of a highly miniaturized vacuum package for use in an atomic clock utilizing trapped ytterbium-171 ions. The vacuum package is approximately 1 cm³ in size and contains a linear quadrupole RF Paul ion trap, miniature neutral Yb sources, and a non-evaporable getter pump. We describe the fabrication process for making the Yb sources and assembling the vacuum package. To prepare the vacuum package for ion trapping, it was evacuated, baked at a high temperature, and then back filled with a helium buffer gas. Once appropriate vacuum conditions were achieved in the package, the package was sealed with a copper pinch-off and was then pumped only by the non-evaporable getter. We demonstrated ion trapping in this vacuum package and the operation of an atomic clock, stabilizing a local oscillator to the 12.6 GHz hyperfine transition of ¹⁷¹Yb⁺. The fractional frequency stability of the clock was measured to be 2 × 10^-11 / τ^1/2.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: DARPA

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

OSTI ID:: 1259538

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 22598020

Report Number(s):: SAND2015-10505J; 614696

Journal Information:: Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 87; ISSN 0034-6748; ISSN RSINAK

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Stand-alone vacuum cell for compact ultracold quantum technologies Burrow, Oliver S.; Osborn, Paul F.; Boughton, Edward Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 119, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0061010	journal	September 2021
Laser-cooled ytterbium-ion microwave frequency standard Mulholland, S.; Klein, H. A.; Barwood, G. P. Applied Physics B, Vol. 125, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-019-7309-6	journal	October 2019
Compact laser system for a laser-cooled ytterbium ion microwave frequency standard Mulholland, S.; Klein, H. A.; Barwood, G. P. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 90, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5082703	journal	March 2019
Nonselective Paul ion trap loading with a light-emitting diode Zalivako, I.; Borisenko, A.; Semerikov, I. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5115324	journal	September 2019
Compact laser system for a laser-cooled ytterbium ion microwave frequency standard Mulholland, S.; Klein, H. A.; Barwood, G. P. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1811.10451	text	January 2018

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